March’s Patreon Challenge story is here! If you subscribe to my Patreon, you can read it for free. Here’s a teaser:

Happy Together, an old song by The Turtles, played on the Amazon Echo while John used a hacksaw to disassemble Miranda’s body. It was ironic, he thought, because they had indeed been very happy together, for many long years, but that had all changed less than 24 hours ago.

Finally, he sawed through the ankle bone. That was a tough one. John tossed the foot into the Hefty black trash bag he had purposed for the task at hand, and then began working on the other foot.

“Alexa, next,” he said, and the 1960s playlist skipped ahead to the next song, Yesterday by The Beatles.

My name is Charlie (no relation to Leroy) Jenkins, and I think I’m being haunted. But of course, I’m getting ahead of myself, and it’s not so much haunted as…well, I suppose I should start at the beginning.

Nathan and I had been best friends since the 2nd grade, when his family moved here from Dallas eight years ago. His parents hadn’t allowed him to socialize outside of school at first, but we’d found other ways to connect. We’d done everything together online we could, really, but mostly what we’d done is play video games. We’d spent so much time paired up in the digital world, it was almost impossible to believe that I’d never see him again not only physically but also digitally.

Around 5th grade Nathan’s parents loosened up a bit and we’d begun hanging out more in person, but the pattern had already been set. The digital world was our domain, and we spent most of our time together there, battling dragons of all different shapes, sorts, and sizes.

We started with Disney’s Toontown Online, quickly progressed to Pirates of the Caribbean and then to City of Heroes, and when NCSoft stupidly shut down CoH, moved on to Secret World: Legends and World of Warcraft. Lately, however, we’d been going the nostalgia route, playing Toontown Rewritten (a fan-made server created after Disney shut down the original) while our phones were almost completely dedicated to Pokémon Go.

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The second Patreon short story, Next Time is Now, is finished and up for everyone to read! It’s a story about a love so timeless that… well, I’ll give you a taste of the story itself. (Cassie Cook-Ward’s idea inspired this one. Thanks, Cassie!)

Peter lay on a queen-sized bed in a nondescript Super 8 motel room in Westbrook, Maine, strapped to an EKG monitor, trying to calm his nerves. This would work. It had to. He couldn’t go through losing her again.

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My Patreon short story contest appears to be a success! Each month, I draw a name from my patrons and they get to tell me what kind of story they want me to write. I completed October’s short story, titled Tom, on Halloween.

Want to read it? All you have to do is subscribe to my Patreon, below. Even just $1/month will get you access to this and all future stories AND will get you an entry into the hat to tell me what to write!

I’m already working on November’s story, as suggested by Cassie Cook-Ward. I hope you’ll join me on this amazing ride!

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She suddenly felt herself gasping for air, as if she’d momentarily forgotten how to breathe. She rocked back in her chair and nearly fell over, then slumped against the green-covered table. The bowl fell from her fingers, shattering at her feet, broken glass scattering everywhere.